


thought process

by harunai



Category: Lobotomy Corporation (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous/Open Ending, My First Work in This Fandom, Not Beta Read, Talk of murder, apocalypse bird mentioned, because it's singing machine, featuring my friend's agent, he also finds out he's gay, local meat grinder has an existential crisis, punishing bird referred to with she/her pronouns, singing machine referred to with he/him pronouns, takes a more sympathetic view of singing machine, whatever this is it isn't canon compliant with lobcorp, why is this the only work for singing machine i have to do this my damn self
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:47:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28447905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harunai/pseuds/harunai
Summary: Humanity was a strange thing. It was like a switch, flipped in the back of your mind, and suddenly, everything began to take proper shape.(or, how the singing machine's identity formed.)
Kudos: 7





	thought process

**Author's Note:**

> why am i the first fic in this tag. i have to do all this myself. anyways hi i've been playing lobcorp. on day 29. i refuse to let my employees stay dead. i forgot to update my other fics sorry
> 
> also i got permission from my friend to include nae in this. i love nae
> 
> also this was inspired by the amazing lobcorp gijinkas drawn by ( https://www.pixiv.net/en/users/1045695 ) so absolutely go check them out but beware of spoilers
> 
> UPDATE: MY FRIEND WROTE A VERSION OF THIS FIC FROM NAE'S POV! IT'S CALLED METALLIC MELODIES  
> go read it [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28475166) !!!!!
> 
> -haru

It's strange, to gain awareness of who and what you really are.

He never needed air to breathe, sunlight to thrive, and let the lack of anything natural felt just as suffocating as the walls all around him. Oh, he could see. They just never paid any mind to that. They cared only about two things. The energy he produced, and the deaths he caused.  
Yes, deaths. "If I were human," he thought, "I'd be known as a horrific serial killer." But in the Corporation, he was just an Abnormality. Something that produced energy.  
And yet, something about that resonated with him. The thought- of being a human.

-

The staff called him "it". To them, he suspected, a murderous machine has no gender, no concept of gender. They certainly don't expect it to have any higher thought. Because to the manager, to the agents, this was just a machine. A machine capable of inciting grotesque murder and acts that would horrify many civilians.

But the Singing Machine wants to be more than just a machine. He wants to walk among humans, to feel the warmth of one still alive, to be as close to human as he can possibly get. He wants to be like that agent, the one who can enter his containment and even _speak_ to him without going insane, murderously so. He's never succumbed to the temptation. That just makes the Singing Machine like him more. 

That man gave him something to do, now that the Manager had realized something was up, and wasn't sending any other agents in. He was no longer producing music, so he focused on other pastimes instead. Speech. The agents had never been interested in conversation, and any attempts from him usually drove them insane. But this agent was different. He'd been the one to instigate conversation, and the Singing Machine wanted so desperately to be able to respond. Although he wasn't a human, he was positive that if he were, he'd want to hold this agent close and never let go. If he had a heart, he suspected it'd be 'fluttering' like he's heard some agents talk about.

It's awkward, at first. He hears the agents passing his containment complain about the grinding noises, and he realizes then that physical speech isn't necessarily the best option. So he turns to something else, something easier.  
He can get into agents' heads easily, but what happens if he uses that for something else? The next time that man visits his cell, and begins a conversation, the Singing Machine finds himself able to reply.

-

He's found he's quite the chatterbox. That's the term used for this, anyways. Turns out being stuck in a never-changing containment cell at all hours of the day means you get quite bored. But this agent - He's found out his name is Nae - is perfectly alright with listening. He's noticed that Nae winces whenever he mentions the colleagues before him, so he stops. The conversations feel like they go on for hours, but that's probably because he has no sense of time. ... It's a surprise that nobody's stopped Nae yet. Or transferred him.  
Then he hears about the higher energy output, and it makes sense that the higher-ups turn a blind eye in exchange for more energy. At this point, he wonders why he's surprised. It's not like they care about their staff.

-

On Nae's day off, the Singing Machine's containment remains dark, yet he thinks about so many things. What separates a machine from a human? What is sentience? What do you need to be human? These thoughts plague him consistently, and eventually, he comes to a solid conclusion.  
 _I want to become a human like him._  
But he was a machine. Machines and humans were entirely different. Becoming one wasn't possible.

Or so he thought, until the door to his containment opened, and the Punishing Bird, looking starkly like a human, walked in with a proposition. To abandon this form of his. And in exchange, he'd gain the human form he craved.  
"You'll have to leave, though. Run from this facility. I'll trigger a big breach, and you can escape in the chaos. I know that agent you fancy will find you." She spoke with such certainty, that it reminded him that she was one of the biggest threats in the facility. "You'll know when it's time." And with that, she turned and left the containment, the alarm of her breach soon dying down.   
As he willed himself to shut down for the night, the most dominant thought he had was of his desire.

-

He awoke several days later to the ability to move hands he didn't know he had. Staring down at himself in shock, looking down at gloved hands and seeing hair that was white, but definitively there, he felt like he could laugh. He didn't even know this was possible, but he didn't want to ask. Before he could go and search for Nae, a hellish roar echoed through the halls of the facility, followed by screaming and general battle-panic.

_Apocalypse Bird_. 

The Punishment Bird had planned this, and met with the other two thirds of the great beast.  
"... Thank you." Even though his savior couldn't hear him, he thanked them anyways, trying out his human voice and finding out he liked it.   
He'd be found eventually, but he needed to get as far as possible. Grabbing the newly-appeared synth and feeling it pulse with life, he clutched it close to his chest as he slid open the containment door, and ran with all of his strength. 

Trumpets blaring, guns firing, birds screeching, the Singing Machine found the exit from the facility, and pushed it wide open. Light streamed from above.

Without looking back, he ran out the door, hearing it shut behind him. He'd worry about the consequences later.  
For now, he needed to focus on distance. Run as far as possible.

Then, he'd wait for the man he called beloved to find him.

**Author's Note:**

> this is self-indulgent if you couldn't tell. it's backstory for the singing machine i rp in my friend's server (same friend who made nae).
> 
> subscribe to my youtube channel if you wanna see my mmd stuff: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOyOHsHwfcdwCVaHOUmn93A


End file.
